LET’S PLAY and BASTIAN to leave WEBTOON in September

Let’s Play and Bastian will both be unavailable to read on WEBTOON soon.

Both series posted notices on their respective pages. Bastian will leave the service on September 30, while Let’s Play did not receive a specific removal date beyond “soon.” Fans who purchased episodes from either series can still access them under My Tab → My Series → Unlocked.

Let’s Play has not updated since September 5, 2022, after creator Leeanne M. Krecic ended her contract with WEBTOON. Contractual obligations prevent her from publishing new episodes until after September 2025, when the three-year exclusivity period ends. Rocketship Entertainment has published the series in print, most recently releasing Volume 5. Krecic has not yet announced where Season 4 will appear.

Since its debut on November 6, 2017, the series has built a large fan base, earned an Eisner Award nomination, and recently announced an anime adaptation. The anime, produced and animated by OLM, will premiere in October. In May 2021, reports also surfaced of a live-action adaptation, but no further news has followed.

Bastian, by contrast, is a newer series, debuting on March 26 of this year. Adapted by Abin from Solche’s (Cry, Better Yet, Beg) dark romance novel, the webcomic ended Season 2 on September 3. At the close of the last episode, YJ Studio posted a hiatus notice, explaining they needed time to “rework the story before…returning with the third season of Bastian.”

WEBTOON has a reputation for censoring panels to make series more age-friendly, and Bastian was no exception. “The subsequent story requires some adaptation in order to make it suitable for a young adult audience… Because of the differences between written works and comics in storytelling methods and portrayal of explicit scenes, we are not able to convey everything exactly as it appears in the original work. We ask for your understanding in this regard,” YJ Studio wrote.

It remains unclear whether the discontinuation stems from adaptation concerns. Neither WEBTOON nor the creators have announced a platform change for Bastian.

As of this writing, both Let’s Play and Bastian remain available on WEBTOON.

Source: WEBTOON